The headers are here! It has been a good week. Discount Tire got me new rears in 2 days, and TSP got me headers in 3 days.

I have decided to go with SCT Pro Racer for my tuning software. The only reason is that I already have an SCT handheld. That brings my additional cost down to ~340 + a wideband setup. Now if I can just get this kid's high school graduation out of the way... I'm ready to bust some knuckles!

So I've had this problem with my SCT tuner since day 1 (I bought it from a member). It wouldn't read the serial number and ID from the device, and it wouldn't complete a device update. I even spent an hour on the phone with SCT letting them run my laptop remotely... something I would never do under normal circumstances. They told me they couldn't get it to update and that I would have to send it in for a $60 RMA and they would update it in-house.

I decided to revisit this problem since I'm going to be needing my programmer. Turns out... it's a shotty USB connector in the unit. When I held the cable taught against the device.... everything started working like it was supposed to. Updated and ready to go.

I think I'll break this open and replace the connector tomorrow at work. It's not under warranty anymore anyways.

I ran my first datalog today, and it definitely needs tuned. I don't think any of the knock retard is actual knock. The MAF frequency and fuel trims don't seem to jive with that theory... not that I would know at this point! I didn't include them in this screenshot. I have been reading non-stop for the last couple days, and my primary suspects are torque management, burst knock, or just false knock from all the exhaust work done. The headers are not installed yet.

It's pretty hard to tell what's up without the actual tuning software so I can see what the stock tune is actually commanding. All I know is that it's pulling timing and that should be fixed. So far I'm loving this stuff. I think this is going to be a really interesting experience.

Tomorrow is install day finally. I took all the tools back to the shop that I was using to build a deck, knock out walls and install sliding doors, fix guttering, etc... the list goes on and on and on. My shop is whole again. Feels great.

I went ahead and shot a before video. I finally found a camera that records decent audio. This thing is going to be a monster when I'm done. Does anyone else's intake exhale like mine does when you shut the car off?

Oh man, I remember when mine sounded like that before the headers.
It is gonna blow your mind how loud it is when you put those on. I went with the 2 inch off-road connections and it can pretty much blow your ear drums if you are behind it.
To answer your question about the exhaust exhale, I'm pretty sure it is normal.
Have fun with the new headers!

To be honest man, you can make the O2's work without extensions or wiring yourself. I just cut the wrap a little and stretched it and it reached just fine. Just be gentle and careful not to pull anything out. Been just fine for like 6,000 miles. Be sure to get the rear O2's turned off by your tuner though.

That's just cutting corners and its not the right way of doing things. Either extend it yourself if you know how or buy the extensions instead of having wires pulled on and risk messing up your harness. I'll pass. Just my .2 though.

This car is stupid loud. Everything went great. We did headers on my car, and an oil change + tire rotation on my buddy's WRX. 3 hours total. The driver's side header barely touched the boot around the steering knuckle. Two of the rubber backs of the spark plug covers on the driver's side barely touch the two middle primaries. I'll get those carved out tomorrow so they're not touching anymore. They seem to be able to handle the heat just fine anyways.

I extended my own harnesses. I would buy the extensions next time. I have been designing/building electronics for 14+ years. I'm no slouch at soldering. The wiring they use in the harnesses doesn't take solder. It's something about the type of wire used. I wish I would have known that before cutting them. I have them temporarily spliced together and under heat shrink ATM. I'm gonna have to go back and hit them with solder bands when I get a chance.

I have an immediate CEL, but I also removed both rear O2 sensors. There are no bungs for them on TSP connection pipes. I do need to get my scanner out tomorrow and make sure the codes are what I expect them to be. I'm going to do a little datalogging tomorrow to see how everything is handling the new parts. Depending on how I feel the car is running, I might grab a quick tune from Jannetty to throw in while I figure out how to tune this myself. Hopefully I can open his tune up and learn a thing or two.

That's just cutting corners and its not the right way of doing things. Either extend it yourself if you know how or buy the extensions instead of having wires pulled on and risk messing up your harness. I'll pass. Just my .2 though.

I wouldn't have been comfortable with using the existing bundles. I added about 8".

Oh... and I had a feeling that was too thin of wire while I was at work, so I grabbed 20 gauge instead. That turned out to be a correct hunch. All of the wiring was 20 gauge. White/Blue/Black/Black for the fronts and White/Gray/Black/Black for the rears.

I flashed a tune from Jannetty at lunch today. The CEL took all of 3 drives to piss me off. We've got a little datalogging to do before it's finished, but the car seems to be running very strong. Warranty is officially dead.

I flashed a tune from Jannetty at lunch today. The CEL took all of 3 drives to piss me off. We've got a little datalogging to do before it's finished, but the car seems to be running very strong. Warranty is officially dead.

I flashed a tune from Jannetty at lunch today. The CEL took all of 3 drives to piss me off. We've got a little datalogging to do before it's finished, but the car seems to be running very strong. Warranty is officially dead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by litle88

Awesome hemp!!! Enjoy the freedom!!!

Mf a warranty lol

Nothing to think about now! I do still have a funny squeak. Actually... with the headers it's probably loud enough to capture on camera. I'll have to grab a video of that and see if anyone recognizes the noise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightmare2012

Congratations on the upgrade hemp and congratulations to the kids graduation!

Thanks. Even the special ed kids graduate from high school these days... I witnessed it firsthand last weekend! It felt friggin awesome getting back to the man cave to do man things.

Now I need to decide whether I want to weld the cans back onto my stock exhaust and put it back on the car, or keep the JBA 3". I stopped at the liquor store on the way back from datalogging and there was a guy walking by my car as I was getting in. I started it and scared the SH!T out of him. He jumped and immediately started laughing and nodding his head at me. That is priceless. This is going to be a tough decision...

For anyone else that reads this thread and thinks they'll extend their own O2 harnesses... don't.

I was informed today that you can't cut the wires because they have air channels built into the wire. I haven't noticed any problems with the way my car is running at all, but I do need to come up with a solution to replace the 2 O2 sensors that I ruined. Lesson learned!

I have decided that I'm going to put my factory catback back together and back on the car. I did a muffler delete on it, but I still have the cans so I can un-delete the muffler delete. The car is TOO LOUD. I think the JBA 3" sounds really raspy from about 2500-3500 RPM. Not to mention the insane drone. This exhaust combo is just not a good fit for my tastes... and I sure as sh!t am not taking the headers off!

So... anyone in the Wichita area want to buy a slightly used JBA 3" catback? I should have everything swapped around this weekend. I'm going to paint the factory system black before I put it back on too. I hate the way those cans look when they're bare metal.

Jannetty suggested (more like insisted) that I get new O2 sensors to replace the ones that I cut. His suggestion is without a doubt the safe, correct course of action. I decided to check and see if the pins could be swapped from the rear O2 sensor connectors to the front connectors, since I have 2 perfectly good rears hanging out at the shop with no air to compare. The pins are very simple to remove from the connector. I used a safety pin to depress the tab on the pin while pulling from the back. As long as the front pins are the same as the rears I should be in business. I ordered extensions from TSP to finish rectifying my initial bad judgement.

An alternate approach that I considered was to swap the rear sensor pins with the front sensor pins in the PCM harnesses. I came across this nugget on ls1tech, and I actually like the idea, but I don't know if our rear cables will reach the header bungs. I'll check while I'm in there this weekend in case this is a valid solution to the headers/O2 sensor cable length problem. It would be nice to not have to use extenders and cable tie them to whatever is convenient.

[QUOTE=thahemp;6552506]I have decided that I'm going to put my factory catback back together and back on the car. I did a muffler delete on it, but I still have the cans so I can un-delete the muffler delete. The car is TOO LOUD. I think the JBA 3" sounds really raspy from about 2500-3500 RPM. Not to mention the insane drone. This exhaust combo is just not a good fit for my tastes... and I sure as sh!t am not taking the headers off!

What you might could do is put a good axle back on it! Anything would be better than them big ugly tin man cans! Just a suggestion!